Behind The Mask
by destinyowldreamer
Summary: no one can go through life alone. not even a certain Sky Knight. it's time his team learned he's just a another kid like them.
1. Chapter 1

_**Behind The Mask**_

Chapter one

Aerrow walked down the hall of the Condor as quietly as he could hoping no one would notice him as he made his way to his room. But of course someone _had_ to notice him. Aerrow recognized the voices coming up behind him belonged to Finn and Junko. Sure they were his friends just like the rest of the Storm Hawks. But right now after fighting the Dark Ace _again_, answering three different distress signals, helping Finn fix his skimmer (when he said helping he meant doing all the work while Finn watched and made annoying comments) and stopping an argument between Finn and Piper he was tired and didn't want to talk to anybody.

"Hey Aerrow!" Finn called. The young Sky Knight rolled his eyes thinking _oh no…_ before turning to face his friends with another fake smile on his face. "Hi Finn, Junko. What do you need?" Finn smiled which was never a good sign. "Oh nothing. We were just wondering if you'd help us pull the ultimate prank of Piper! You know for a little revenge for her wrecking my CDs!" for a minute Aerrow just stared at him. He but his hands up in surrender. "Okay just wait. You want me to help you prank Piper after I just finished settling the argument between you to?" both Finn and Junko nodded enthusiastically. Aerrow shook his head at the ground. "Uh sorry but no." he said and before they could protest he added "guys its late. We should all just try to sleep before something else chaotic happens."

"You mean like it will tomorrow." Finn asked. Aerrow wanted to ignore him and go to his room but he was supposed to be the leader here. He turned back to the sharpshooter with the happy, optimistic expression he always used even though he hardly ever felt it. "Exactly. Good night." Without another word he turned the corner and hurried into his room.

As soon as the door closed he let the smile and positive look dissolve into a much more real sad and tired one. He glanced in his mirror and saw himself for what he really was. Just a sad tired boy. His messy red hair was in even more disarray than normal, his normally bright green eyes had lost their spark, he was pale and dark shadows danced under his eyes. He sat on his bed and let his head rest against the cool mettle of the wall. Radarr chattered in concern. "I'm fine Radarr." Aerrow reassured him. "Just tired." Radarr wasn't convinced. They had practically raised each other. Radarr could tell when Aerrow was holding something back. But he didn't press it. He could tell that Aerrow really was tired and rightfully so. When Aerrow eventually fell into a light and fitful sleep Radarr stayed awake by his side.

In was only two hours before Aerrow awoke to the sound of Stork screaming. Without a moment's hesitation the fourteen year old grabbed the twin energy blades he used as weapons and ran to the bridge. Radarr hurried out after him. As soon as he got to the bridge Aerrow could tell why the merb had been screaming. Ravess and her annoying violin players could be seen speeding towards them. "Stork look out!" Aerrow cried as Ravess fired one of her crystal tipped arrows at the glass. The merb didn't react fast enough. Aerrow dove at his feet knocking the pilot to the ground just as the window smashed. Aerrow helped Stork to his feet. "You okay?" he asked. Stork nodded and brushed himself off before returning to the controls. "We're doomed!"

Aerrow not wanting to wake his crew took to his skimmer with Radarr. They could do this with Stork flying the Condor they'd be fine. When Ravess saw they were alone she laughed. Notching three arrows at a time she aimed and fired. Luckily Aerrow saw them coming and spiraled out of the way. It was pelting with rain and he could hardly see two inches in front of him. Thunder and lightning boomed and harsh cold winds ripped around them. They couldn't stay out for long but then again neither could Ravess. "Okay Radarr." He said to his co-pilot. "All we need to do is out last her." The blue sky monkey nodded the affirmative.

Ravess fired arrow after arrow at them. One hit the wing of Aerrow's skimmer and for a scary minute they spiraled out of control before righting themselves and flying back up to meet her. Aerrow fired blue charges at her but she avoided them. Feeling her victory growing near Ravess began to close in for the kill before a loud bang was heard from the Condor. Junko or Finn, Aerrow didn't know who right now had managed to shoot Ravess out of the sky.

Aerrow and Radarr landed back on the Condor. The other Storm Hawks crowded around them. "Are you okay?" Piper asked looking at her rain soaked friend. "We heard the commotion and it looked like you could use some help." Aerrow summoned the little strength he had left and smiled. Another fake one. "I'm fine. Thanks for the help." Junko gave him the thumbs up, Finn was still asleep and Stork was busy flying the ship. Aerrow shivered and Piper put her arm around his shoulders. "You should probably get dried off before you get sick." She warned. "It's like midnight to so we should all get back to bed. We can do the repairs in the morning." Out of concern for their Sky Knight Junko, Piper and Radarr guided Aerrow back to his room. "Thanks guys." He said with a weak smile. "Good night."

Once he was back in bed and was asleep again Radarr still stayed by his side. He pulled the blanket higher around the boy's shoulders. In a way Radarr felt privileged. He was the only one who ever saw Aerrow like this. Everyone had high expectations of him. Aerrow was the son of the leader of the original Storm Hawks, Aerrow was the leader of the new Storm Hawks, Aerrow was a Sky Knight, Aerrow would end the war, Aerrow would always save the day. But the truth was Aerrow was all those things and he would do those things but he was still a kid. And he needed his friends to realize it.


	2. Chapter two

Chapter two

The next morning Aerrow did something that was very out of character. He slept in. by the time he woke up light was streaming in through the window and judging by how high the sun was in the sky it had been up for a while. He sat up and rubbed sleep out of his eyes before noticing that Radarr was missing from his normal place beside him. A sure sign he had been sleeping for a while. When he was ready Aerrow made his way to the bridge where he assumed the others probably were.

He frowned at the headache that was growing worse and worse. Fighting it down he managed to wipe the pain and discomfort from his features before entering the room. "Hey Aerrow." Junko said distractedly from where he sat on the couch reading a book. The glasses he was wearing making his gray eyes look huge. Finn looked up from polishing his crossbow. "Huh. Nice of you to show up." Now Aerrow was confused. "What?" Radarr scurried to his place on his boy's shoulder and gave him a worried look. Piper placed a dark skinned hand on his shoulder. Her orange eyes alight with concern. "Aerrow it's like two in the afternoon. Are you okay?"

Aerrow rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah I'm fine. Sorry about sleeping in." Piper smiled. "Hey it's okay. I can't remember the last time you slept in. Everyone's allowed to do it sometimes." As if sensing a comment coming from Finn, Piper put her hand up in a silencing gesture. "And no Finn. You don't count." Finn shut his mouth and deflated looking like a wounded puppy.

Just then Stork said "distress call! Coming from the Terra right below us!" they all let out a collective groan. They knew what Terra was beneath them. And more importantly they knew who was sending the distress call. "Looks like we'll be visiting out number one fan again." Finn chimed. A few weeks ago the Storm Hawks had met their number one fan Noob. It was still funny how much that name actually fit. He had converted to being the Absolute Zeros number one fan when he had lost his Storm Hawks things in a fight with Ravess and her fiddle playing goons. Recently he had gone back to being the Storm Hawks number one fan when the Piper action figure had finally come out.

"Do we really have to?" Junko complained. Aerrow gave him a sympathetic look. "Come on Junko." He said. "You know none of us want to but he might actually be in trouble this time." Aerrow turned back to Stork. "Stork. Take us down." The carrier pilot sighed before doing what his leader asked. "We're doomed."

Turns out there wasn't actually any trouble. Noob just wanted the Storm Hawks to visit him. As they exited the Condor Finn whispered to Aerrow "from now on we seriously need to stop passing over this Terra." For once in his life the young Sky Knight had to agree with the blond haired sharpshooter.

As usual Noob was excited to see them and was eager to show Piper the new action figure. Aerrow stayed a little ways behind the others. The headache was starting to get harder and harder to ignore. He put his hand to his head in an attempt to keep the pain at bay. Unfourtanetly for him the worst person possible to notice Aerrow's pain was the _only_ person who noticed his pain. "Uh Aerrow?" Noob asked a weird combination look of excitement, awe and concern scribbled all over his face. "Are you okay?"

Aerrow tried hard for a smile. "I'm okay." He said even though he was lying through his teeth. While the others were arguing about Piper's action figure Noob the most annoying Storm Hawks fan in all of the Atmos was the first one to see his hero in real pain. "What happened?" Noob asked with enthusiasm at the idea of getting to hear about a real Storm Hawks adventure. "Look Noob." Aerrow said really not wanting to talk about this now. "Everything's fine. We just ran into Ravess last night." If anything now Noob looked even more worried. "So what happened?" he pressed. "Did you fall or something?" Aerrow shook his head which was probably a bad idea because it proved to just make his headache worse. "It's just a headache Noob. I'm just tired."

Noob looked a little hurt at first but then put a steadying hand on Aerrow's arm. "Maybe it'd be a good idea if you and the others left then if you're not feeling good." Aerrow smiled weakly. "Thanks Noob. We'll see you later."

That night they sat in various places aboard the Condor. Aerrow made an excuse to leave and hid in his room. The headache had only gotten worse. Radarr curled at his side Aerrow tried to go to sleep and after a while he did. Only to be plagued by nightmares filled with Ravess, Snipe, Master Cyclonis, the Dark Ace and for some reason Domiwick the irritating and pompous explorer.

Radarr could tell his friend was having nightmares and let out a small distressed whine. All he could do was stay with Aerrow and try to keep calm and carry on.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

By the next morning Aerrow had a fever. The headache had only gotten worse, his skin was burning, his hair was plastered to his head with sweat and his voice sounded like gravel being ground together. Radarr hurried into the room with a bowl of cold water and a cloth. Aerrow let Radarr fuss over him for about five minutes before forcing himself to get up. Radarr squawked in protest. "I'll be fine Radarr." Aerrow tried to make it sound convincing but it was hard when he had to break off to start coughing. Radarr put his hands on his hips and scowled. Aerrow had to smile. If nothing else Radarr was stubborn. "Okay fine." Aerrow said finally giving in. "I'll take it easy. No skimmer rides and no dangerous missions. Happy?" Radarr gave him the thumbs up. Aerrow laughed before breaking off into another coughing fit.

Aerrow washed the sweat off his face and tried not to look sick before heading to the bridge. Piper and Stork were the only other ones up which gave Aerrow some comfort knowing that he hadn't slept in that late again. "Morning Aerrow." Piper said from where she was leaning against the railing writing in her squadron log. "Hey Piper, Stork." Stork waved over his shoulder without taking his eyes off the horizon from where he stood flying the ship. "Are Finn or Junko up yet?" the Sky Knight asked as he sat down. Piper joined him and rolled her eyes. "What those to? They wouldn't wake up if we were being attacked by Master Cyclonis, Snipe, Ravess, the Dark Ace, Murk Raiders, Chicken Feathers, (as they had taken to calling the Talon Commander) the Leviathan and Sky Sirens. Couldn't you hear them snoring from your room?" Aerrow gave her a look. "That's a little harsh." She shrugged. "The truth hurts."

Okay so Piper was in a mood this morning. Aerrow winced as another coughing fit threatened and he coughed twice hoarsely. Radarr was at his side in an instant. Even Stork glanced over his shoulder at his leader. "Aerrow?" Piper asked concern lacing her voice. "Are you okay?" Aerrow barely heard her. Darkness threatened his vision. He blinked as his eye sight cleared. "I…I'm fine." He managed coughing a little more. Piper looked skeptical. "That doesn't sound like nothing Aerrow." He shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "It's a cough Piper. I think I'll live." She frowned but didn't press the matter further.

They sat in silence for a while before Piper finally said "you know you can tell us anything." He looked up at her in surprise. She continued "you don't have to keep things from me." he noticed how she said 'me' that time and not 'us' like she had before. "Thanks Piper." He said giving her another pain hiding smile. "But I'm okay. Really." Before either of them could say more Finn walked onto the bridge with a yawning Junko close behind. "So!" he said making Aerrow wince at the loud noise. He already had a headache and Finn wasn't helping. "Who's up for some training games?" Stork sighed as if resigning himself to his fate. Piper noticed how Aerrow seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Not today Finn." She said. The sharpshooter's shoulders slumped and he groaned. "Awww…." He turned to Aerrow. "How about you Aerrow? Wanna do some target practice?" Junko joined in enthusiastically. "Or we could do 'catch the Sky Knight' again!" 'Catch the Sky Knight' was a game Finn had invented a long time ago when they were little kids on Terra Neverlandis. One of them was the Sky Knight (usually Aerrow) and the others were the Cyclonians who would be trying to catch the Sky Knight. It was great for evasive maneuvering practice. "Sorry guys." He said. "Like Piper said, not today."

Finn and Junko wandered off grumbling about why they couldn't be more fun or something. Aerrow headed to the skimmer bay to work on fixing his skimmer's wing from where Ravess had hit it. As he worked he tried to ignore the sweat that was starting to bead on his forehead and the pounding in his head. He coughed painfully, trying to focus on his work. It was getting hard to breathe and he found himself on the verge of passing out. He set down the wrench he was using and put his hand to his head. He stood up using his skimmer for support and swayed on his feet.

He made his way outside hoping the fresh air would make him feel better. He leaned against the railing as the wind blew through his hair cooling him down. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt the nausea die down. His green eyes closed and he let his feverish mind be calm. That was until he opened his eyes again only to see a squadron of Talons led by none other than the Dark Ace himself.

Aerrow was sick, he was tired, he had a headache and he was just really annoyed. He had fought the Dark Ace so many freaking times and he was just done. "Really?" he looked up at the sky as if expecting an answer. "Okay dad. Now would be a good time for some help." Apparently Lighting Strike wasn't in a listening mood. "Oh perfect." Aerrow muttered.

**A/N: hey everybody. I know somebody's reading this! Special thanks to OneForSorrow333 and FoodAndWifi I really appreciate you guys favoriteing my story but I would really like to get some reviews! I want to know what you think! Anybody who's reading this is capable of reviewing so please do it! Any suggestions or requests for oncoming chapters would be great! Please and thank you! Bye!**


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